Seated from left: Dr Cham, Farah Waheeda binti Jalaludin, Prof Cheng, Dr Hiram, Prof Marko, Prof Christian, Prof T. Ramayah, Dr Mumtaz and Dr Cheah with the participants
To further enhance the knowledge of researchers, UTAR and Sarawak Research Society (SRS) organised the International Symposium on Applied Structural Equation Modelling and Methodological Matters (SASEM) 2019. The symposium was held from 21 to 24 August 2019 at Novotel Melaka. It aimed to provide an opportunity for the global participants to share their ideas and experience in person with their peers, establish research relations and find global partners for future collaboration.
The symposium attracted more than 130 local and international participants from nine countries. Present at the opening ceremony were UTAR Faculty of Accountancy and Management Dean Dr Sia Bee Chuan, SASEM National Advisory Board member Prof Dr Cheng Ming Yu, SRS Chairperson Dr Hiram Ting, SASEM Chairperson Prof T. Ramayah, SASEM Co-chairs Dr Cham Tat Huei and Dr Cheah Jun Hwa.
Prof Ramayah in his welcome speech said, “We have planned an exciting programme which is filled with technical programmes including a pre-symposium workshop on Current Advances in PLS-SEM, three keynote speeches, technical paper presentations, and an Emerald Literati Award presentation. I am sure that the presence of the keynote speakers, who are experts in Structural Equation Modelling, will benefit the delegates as well as the academics and postgraduate students in Malaysia tremendously.”
Dr Sia (left) exchanging souvenirs with Dr Hiram Ting (right)
Dr Sia said, “Today, the pace of change is not only accelerating after adapting to new phenomena, technologies and conceptual frameworks; there will always be another wave of change and it is looming against the horizon. We are all aware that the only thing constant is change, and certainty is uncertain. Hence, this symposium, co-organised with SRS is timely as it provides researchers with the opportunity to use innovative modelling and methodology, and provides a platform to discuss, promote and engage scholars to share their research findings at both the theoretical and practical realms,” as she welcomed the participants.
Prof T. Ramayah presenting the token of appreciation to Prof Christian (left), Prof Enrico (middle) and Prof Marko (right)
The symposium featured three prominent keynote speakers, namely Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) expert Prof Dr Marko Sarstedt, Co-founder of SmartPLS Prof Dr Christian M. Ringle and Professor of Psychometrics Prof Dr Enrico Ciavolino. Prof Christian presented his keynote speech titled, “How to Deal with the Validity Threats of Unobserved Heterogeneity” while Prof Marko presented on “To Predict or Not to Predict”. Prof Enrico presented his keynote speech titled, “Entropy Methods for Measurement and Structural Modelling”.
Aside from the keynote speeches, participants of the symposium were also exposed to the current development of SEM in social science research through editorial forums and paper presentations in the two-day workshop conducted by Prof Christian and Prof Marko which focuses on current advances in PLS-SEM. At the workshop, participants learnt about the foundations of PLS-SEM, State-of-research on PLS-SEM, Goodness-of-fit testing and model comparisons in PLS-SEM, Predictive model assessment in PLS-SEM, Capturing observed and unobserved heterogeneity in PLS-SEM, Measurement model invariance testing using the MICOM procedure, Multi-group analyses; treating unobserved heterogeneity in PLS-SEM: A multi-method approach and Treating unobserved heterogeneity in PLS-SEM: A multi-method approach.
Participants during the conference
The Emerald Literati Awards presentation ceremony was also held in conjunction with SASEM 2019. A total of five recipients received awards from Emerald Publishing. The ceremony aimed to celebrate and reward authors and reviewers who have given outstanding contributions to scholarly research. The recipients of Outstanding Paper Award were Prof Dr Christian M. Ringle, Prof Dr Marko Sarstedt and Dr Mumtaz Ali Memon. The recipients of Highly Commended Award were the late Prof Dr Ernest Cyril de-Run, Dr Dilip Mutum and Dr Samuel Ogbeibu.
Emerald Publisher Business Manager William Loh (fourth from right) and Prof T. Ramayah (third from right) with the award winners (from left): Dr Samuel Ogbeibu, Dr Dilip Mutum , Prof Christian, Prof Marko and Dr Hiram Ting representing late Prof Ernest and Dr Mumtaz
Group photography of participants during the city excursion at Encore Melaka
Best paper award winners
© 2019 UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN DU012(A).
Wholly owned by UTAR Education Foundation Co. No. 578227-M LEGAL STATEMENT TERM OF USAGE PRIVACY NOTICE